A long night of light to moderate breezes unfortunately wind shifts gave Wild Iris little room for manoeuvre. Approaching the islands with 8 miles to go we were on a dead run sailing by the lee. At two miles, fortunately with the wind holding at 12Kn against the forecast 8Kn, we were making great progress. Radioed Rally Control Boat 337 ETA 5:15. Too good to be true well yes. 1 mile to go and the well behaved spinnaker up for a constant record four days decided to wrap. A few expletives later realising this wasn’t impacting boat speed and we were stable we made the finish at 5:16. Now to sort out the problem when suddenly the spinnaker decided to unwrap. Sometimes you get lucky.
Spinnaker down, if not wholly conventionally, safely and main down we motored to the Marina to meet the ARC and Marina teams there to guide us in and give us a great welcome. Great early morning work teams. We are moored up next to Luna our constant companion on our long Easterly African run a fitting end to an amazing voyage.
Only one thing to do after five days of champagne sailing; open the Champagne and enjoy the welcoming town of Mindelo. Saturday spent chilling and telling fishy tales with friends. Tomorrow an expedition to see the beauty of the Cape Verdes Islands. Monday back to the serious work of preparing for the next leg.
PS Thanks Mindelo for a great reception party. The Cape Verdes people are very generous.
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